Chase Down
by chrystaline
Summary: Deathly Hallows AU: The scene at King's Cross Station.


He ran.

She ran faster.

He frowned and put in an extra burst of speed.

She giggled loudly, a mad girlish giggle that filled him with equal measures of hope and dread.

Harry slowed.

He wanted to stop running. But he had to catch up. He had to catch up with the girl with the diamond eyes that glittered in the Candlelight. He needed to catch up with the girl with the black hair that was as dark as the alluring abyss.

He shook his head to clear it and ran.

_Hey, wait up!_

**Hello, Harry. **

She giggled again and batted her eyelashes playfully. Her diamond eyes were dull and pale grey in the sunlight.

A startled pause.

_How'd you know my name?_

**I know many things.**

_Who are you?_

**I was hoping you wouldn't ask me that.**

Her smile faded, the sunlight dimmed into night and from afar, a single candle flame swayed gently in the breeze.

_Why?_

**Because I can't give you an answer.**

_Why not?_

She smiled sadly and her eyes glittered with the reflection of a thousand Harrys.

**Because you haven't caught me yet, silly!**

Her melancholy vanished. The candle disappeared and the light faded back in, suffusing Harry with a warm glow. She laughed.

**Come on! Catch me, Harry!**

Harry ran.

_Boy, she sure runs fast for a little girl._

The wind rustled the trees and the leaves fell like dead flies.

**Who're you calling little?**

She had stopped.

He thought his heart did.

In her place was an older girl. Her tresses fell to her waist, the black impossibly darker than before.

_Uh-h, wha-_

**Hello, Mr. Potter.**

Her irises were emerald against the diamond of her childhood.

Harry flinched.

She smiled but her eyes remained lifeless. The sunlight faded. The Candle dimmed. Moonlight shone and shadows danced. She twirled her fingers around her long locks and as she did, her hair morphed into a wispy white.

**I grow weary of this game.**

She sighed.

_Then why are you playing it?_

**It's a game I must play.**

Her eyes were haunted now. The moonlight reflected off them and the beams that pierced him felt all-knowing. Where had he felt that gaze before?

Someone was watching.

_What game are you talking about?_

**The Game of Life.**

_I thought I had to catch you for you to give me the answer?_

A deep sigh of heartache.

**You've run far enough, Harry. It's time to stop.**

_But I don't want to stop. I need to catch up._

Confusion.

**Catch up with who?**

_Catch up with you. Does this conversation count as 'catching up'?_

A smile, a thin smile that beautified her inhuman face and lit fire in her eyes.

**No. It doesn't. You just need help that's all. You're a good person, Harry. **

Her smile vanished. The Candle sputtered and the flame grew. The Man in the Moon reined in the moonlight.

She fled.

He was sick of running.

The scenery was the same monotonous scene of trees flailing in the wind. Vines whipped at his face and he brushed them aside impatiently. He could barely make out the silhouette of the maiden.

_Hey! Wait up!_

_**Harry…**_

Fear and sadness constricted him.

_Mum?_

_**Harry…**_

Tears.

_Mum! Where are you?_

_**Harry…**_

Silence.

His ears roared with the tumultuous emotions that brewed in his head. It threatened to bowl him over and engulf him in a profound wave of grief that threatened to choke the very life out of him.

_**You've come so far, son… Just a bit more. Just a bit more…**_

_Mum, please!_

Pleading, desperate.

_Mum!_

_**I'm sorry… I can't… I'll see you someday, Harry…. You're my brave boy... Good luck, Harry... Keep going... I love you…**_

And she was gone.

_Mum! Please come back! Please…_

Broken.

_For me…_

She was there again. The lady with the precious eyes.

**Hello, Harry. I see you caught up.**

Surprise and frustration battled with each other. They clashed and roared in his mind like a thousand seashells.

_Caught up?_

**Yes, Harry. You caught up. The past seventeen years have been hard on you. **

Time smiled enigmatically.

_I-I've caught up?_

A nod.

**It's high time you claimed your reward. He's yours to defeat.**

A smile, a broad grin.

_With what?_

**With love, there's anguish. You'll know when you meet him once more.**

And with that, she vanished.


End file.
